Ex-Goldman Sachs Associate Will Serve Nearly Five Years in Prison for Insider Trading

Eugene M. Plotkin, a former Goldman Sachs associate, will serve 57 months in prison for his involvement in insider trading. Plotkin pleaded guilty to conspiracy and eight counts of insider trading for his role in a number of insider trading scams that generated over $6 million in illegal gains.

The former fixed-income research associate to will have to forfeit $6.7 million and pay a $10,000 fine. The forfeiture will come from money that the government has already frozen.

Plotkin, along with ex-Goldman analyst David Pajcin, was one of the key players accused of illegally trading stocks after consulting prepublished copies of BusinessWeek’s “Inside Wall Street” column. The scam also involved the use of information leaked by Jason Smith, a grand juror in the Bristol-Myers Squib Co. case and information provided by Stanislav Shpigelman, a former Merrill Lynch investment-banking analyst.

The men used info about Merrill Lynch’s upcoming acquisitions and mergers, including the Adidas acquisition of Reebok and the Proctor & Gamble acquisition of Gillette Co. to make illegal trades.

Plotkin and Pajcin also recruited two Wisconsin printing plant workers and had them steal the advance BusinessWeek copies so they could look up the names of stocks.

A number of the improper trades were made on behalf of Pajkin’s aunt, a retired Croatian seamstress.

Pajcin, Shpigelman, and the two ex-printing plant workers have also pleaded to criminal charges in this case.

If you are an investor who has lost money at the hands of analysts who engaged in insider trading, or anyone else who engaged in any other type of investment-related misconduct, please contact Shepherd Smith and Edwards today and ask for your free consultation. Our law firm is dedicated to helping people like you recover your losses.

Related Web Resources:

Ex-Goldman Analyst Gets Prison in Insider Trading Case, Reuters, January 4, 2008
Goldman Ex-Analyst Gets 4 Years in Insider Schemes, Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2008
Ex-Goldman associate sentenced to 57 months in insider case, Marketwatch.com, January 3, 2008
Insider Trading, SEC.gov